Battle of Bab El Oued

Battle

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Battle of Bab El Oued

Part of the Algerian War

French soldiers taking cover during the Battle of Bab El Oued (March 1962)
| Date| 23 March – 6 April 1962

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Location|

Bab El Oued, Algiers, Algeria

Result|  French government victory
Belligerents
French Republic|  OAS
Commanders and leaders
Charles Ailleret|  Raoul Salan
Casualties and losses
15 killed
77 wounded[1]|  20 killed
60 wounded[1]

* v
* t
* e

Algerian War

1950s

* Toussaint Rouge
* Boukerker
* Véronique
* El Djorf I
* Philippeville
* Blue Bird
* Palestro
* Algiers
* Fellaoucene
* Oued Zeggar
* Sidi Semiane
* Agounennda
* Bouzegza
* El Menaouer
* Essien
* Timimoun
* Bab El Bekkouche
* Borders
* May 1958 crisis
* 1st Ouled Bouachra
* Ath Yahia Moussa
* Jumelles
* [Plan Challe] (1959-1961)

1960s

* Algiers putsch
* Paris
* Bab El Oued
* Oran
* Boutaleb
* Bouk'hil
* Nasinsa
* Ouled Rashache
* Flawcen
* 2nd Ouled Bouachra
* Kef Lakhdar
* Ouled Sinan
* Guergour
* Kef Afoul

The Battle of Bab el Oued (French: Bataille de Bab el Oued) was a violent confrontation which occurred during the latter stages of the Algerian War (1954–1962) between the French Army and the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) which opposed Algerian independence. It took place in Bab El Oued, then a working-class European quarter of Algiers, from 23 March to 6 April 1962.

## Context

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### The OAS uprising (19 March)

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Algeria: Tense Cease Fire Bab el Oued, 22 March 1962

See also: Organisation armée secrète

The OAS was an organization of hard-line European "Pieds Noirs" living in (the then-French territory) Algeria who were opposed to the cease-fire announced by French president Charles de Gaulle on 19 March 1962 between French forces and the Front de libération nationale (FLN) forces fighting for Algerian Independence. The OAS decided to dig in at their stronghold of Bab El Oued (a traditionally European working-class area) to fight the Evian Agreements by force.

## Siege of Bab el Oued (from 23 March to 6 April)

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The Battle of Bab el Oued was principally a battle between the French Gendarmerie Mobile and the OAS Commando Delta. The French government forces used M8 Greyhound armoured cars to control the exits to the town whilst suspicious buildings were surveilled from the air by T-6 and T-28 aircraft departing from Boufarik Air Base. Four T-6s strafed the roofs to clear them from snipers after Army helicopters dropped canisters with tear gas.[2] As part of the attack, naval artillery support from the T 47-class destroyers Surcouf and Maillé-Brézé was planned, though it soon became evident that this was not practical and the bombardment was called off.[3] Most of the troops setting siege to the quarter had been ferried to Algeria by Surcouf and Maillé-Brézé, along with other three destroyers, on 2 March.[4]

In support of Bab-el Oued, 200 OAS maquis marched from Algiers to Ouarsenis, a mountainous region between Oran and Algiers. They tried to capture two French military outposts and gain support from local Muslim tribes loyal to France, but instead these forces were harassed and eventually defeated by French Foreign Legion units led by Colonel Albert Brothier after several days of fighting.[5]

### Arrest of General Jouhaud (25 March)

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On 25 March 1962, General Edmond Jouhaud (adjutant to the commander of the OAS Raoul Salan and commander of the OAS-Oranie, the Oran branch of the OAS) was arrested at the Hôtel Panoramic d'Oran with his adjutant, Commander Julien Camelin.

### 1962 Isly massacre

[edit]

The Great Post-Office of Algiers, where the 1962 Isly massacre took place. After independence, the rue d'Isly (which was named after the Battle of Isly) was renamed in honour of FLN commander Larbi Ben M'hidi.

The 1962 Isly massacre was an incident which occurred on 26 March 1962 in which a largely peaceful demonstration of anti-independence Pied-Noirs attempted to force their way through French Army roadblocks around the Great Post-Office of Algiers. The demonstrators encountered a roadblock manned by 45 soldiers from the 4th Tirailleur Regiment who fired on the crowd with machine guns. Between 50 and 80 Pied-Noirs demonstrators were killed in the massacre.[6]

## Casualties

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According to the historian Benjamin Stora, 15 French soldiers and 20 OAS members were killed during the Battle of Bab el Oued, and around 150 were wounded.[7] Six French soldiers were killed by the OAS in a previous ambush.[8]

## References

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1. ^ a b Amouroux, Henri and Courrière, Yves (1988). La France contemporaine, La guxrre d'Algérie, t.IX. Tallendier, p.424 (in French)
2. ^ Time magazine, Volume 8, p. 119. Time, Inc., 1962
3. ^ Roche, Jean-Michel (2010). "Escorteur d'Escadre Surcouf" [Fleet Escort Surcouf] (in French). Netmarine.net. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
4. ^ Labour research, Volume 51, p. 112. Labour Research Department, 1962
5. ^ Harrison, Alexander (1989). Challenging De Gaulle: The OAS and the counterrevolution in Algeria (1954–1962). Greenwood press, p. 120. ISBN 0-275-92791-1
6. ^ Evans, Martin (24 November 2011). Algeria: France's Undeclared War. Oxford University Press. p. 315\. ISBN 978-0192803504.
7. ^ Benjamin Stora, Les mots de la guerre d'Algérie, Presses Universitaires du Mirail, 2005, p.18 (in French)
8. ^ 26 mars 1962, la fusillade de la rue d’Isly à Alger,Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH, Human Rights League), article based on sources from Benjamin Stora,Histoire de la guerre d'Algérie, La gangrène et l'oubli and Sylvie Thénault, Histoire de la guerre d'indépendance algérienne (in French)

## External links

[edit]

* (in French) Chillet, La Bataille de Bab-el-Oued, article from the journal Accent Grave n.14 April 1963[permanent dead link‍]
* (in French) Fusillade à Bab-el-Oued dirigée sur le 2e bataillon du 73e RIMa au poste de zouaves, ECPAD

36°47′26.53″N 3°2′59.03″E﻿ / ﻿36.7907028°N 3.0497306°E﻿ / 36.7907028; 3.0497306

* v
* t
* e

Conflicts between France and Algeria

Ministry of Mujahideen \- Declaration of 1 November 1954

Pre-1830 conflicts|

* Djidjelli expedition
* French-Algerian War 1681–1688
* Bombardment of Algiers (1682)
* Bombardment of Algiers (1683)
* Bombardment of Algiers (1688)

French conquest of Algeria: 1830-1836|

* Shipwreck of Dellys (1830)
* Invasion of Algiers in 1830
* Battle of Staouéli (1830)
* First Battle of Blida (1830)
* Second Battle of Blida (1830)
* Massacre of El Ouffia (1832)
* Battle of Sig (1835)
* Battle of Macta (1835)
* Battle of Constantine (1836)

French conquest of Algeria: 1837-1870|

* Raid on Reghaïa (1837)
* Expedition of the Col des Beni Aïcha (1837)
* First Battle of Boudouaou (1837)
* First Battle of the Issers (1837)
* First Assault of Dellys (1837)
* Siege of Constantine (1837)
* Battle Of Ammal (1840)
* Battle of Boudouaou (1840) [ar]
* Battle of Mazagran (1840)
* Battle of Beni Mered (1842)
* Battle of the Smala (1843)
* Second Assault of Dellys (1844)
* Battle of Sidi Brahim (1845)
* Battle of the Col des Beni Aïcha (1846)
* Siege of Laghouat (1852)

Allegiances|

* Allegiance to Mohamed ben Zamoum (1830) [ar]
* Allegiance to Emir Abdelkader (1832) [ar]
* Allegiance to Emir Abdelkader (1833) [ar]

Mokrani Revolt|

* Battle of Alma (1871)
* Battle of the Col des Beni Aïcha (1871)
* Battle of Naciria (1871) [ar]
* Battle of Bordj Menaïel (1871) [ar]
* Battle of Issers (1871) [ar]

* Capture of Palestro

* Capture of Touggourt

Algerian War|

* Toussaint Rouge
* Véronique
* El Djorf I
* Philippeville
* Blue Bird
* Palestro
* Algiers
* Agounennda
* Bouzegza
* Bab El Bekkouche
* May 1958 crisis
* Jumelles
* Algiers putsch
* Bab El Oued

Treaties|

* Desmichels Treaty
* Tafna Treaty
* Évian Accords
* De Bourmont Treaty [ar]
* De Lamoricière Treaty [ar]

Documents|

* 1920 Algerian Political Rights Petition
* 1943 Manifesto of the Algerian People
* Declaration of 1 November 1954

Lists|

* List of participants in the invasion of Algiers in 1830
* List of participants in Mokrani Revolt

* v
* t
* e

Organisation armée secrète

Activity|

* 1961 Vitry-Le-François train bombing
* 1962 Issy-les-Moulineaux bombing
* Battle of Bab El Oued
* Commando Delta

Leadership|

* Antoine Argoud
* Roger Degueldre
* Albert Dovecar
* Paul Gardy
* Yves Godard
* Pierre Guillaume
* Edmond Jouhaud
* Charles Lacheroy
* Pierre Lagaillarde
* Raoul Salan
* Jean-Jacques Susini

Notable
members

* Georges Bidault
* Dominique Borella
* Jean-Pierre Cherid
* Pierre Descaves
* Yves Guérin-Sérac
* Roger Holeindre
* Jean-Pierre Maïone-Libaude
* Robert Pesquet
* Claude Piegts
* Jacques Soustelle
* Albert Spaggiari
* Rolf Steiner
* Dominique Venner

In fiction|

* Le Combat dans l'île
* The Day of the Jackal
* film adaptation
* Objectif 500 millions
* The Unvanquished

Related|

* Algiers putsch of 1961
* Besançon courthouse attack
* Charles Martel Group

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